New Issue: The May 2026 TSAN Newsletter is now available. View flipbook →

Latest News

1,100 articles online

All Advanced Materials Associations Authentication Brand Protection Case Studies Companies Consumer & Industrial Products Countries Covert & Forensic Security Document Protection Editorials Enforcement & Surveillance Events Excise Products Free Government Illicit Trade Interviews News Overt Security Regulations Reports & Studies Standards Strategies Sustainability Tax & Revenue Tax Stamps Technology & Systems Tenders Track and Trace

Filtered by Overt Security — 10 articles

22 June 2026

3 min read

Security Begins Below the Surface – and Extends Far Beyond

For decades, tax stamp programmes have relied on multiple layers of overt, covert and forensic security to protect government revenues and combat illicit trade. Yet, as counterfeiters become increasingly adept at reproducing certain visible security features and copying digital identifiers, the importance of those layered defences is growing.

Companies Covert & Forensic Security Overt Security

Francis Tuffy

26 April 2026

3 min read

Seaborough’s LUMICRYPT Engineers Unique Luminescent Fingerprints

Security printing has always borrowed optical phenomena from physics and chemistry, and few of these phenomena are as useful as luminescence. A luminescent ‘phosphor’ is an inorganic material that can soak up light of one colour, often ultraviolet (UV), and then re-emit it at another, usually visible, colour. In a banknote or secure document, that behaviour becomes a controlled ‘signal’. Under normal lighting, the ink may look unremarkable, but under a defined UV lamp it produces a distinctive glow that is easy to spot and, importantly, can be measured.

Advanced Materials Overt Security

Ian Lancaster

4 Dec. 2025

3 min read

80% Digital + 20% Analogue = 100% Novel for H010

At the Optical and Digital Document Security™ conference, in September, George Hall, Chief Commercial Officer of UK company H010 (pronounced ‘holo’ but note the two zeroes and the figure ‘1’), presented this start-up company’s novel hologram/QR code security label.

Companies Overt Security

Nicola Sudan

30 Oct. 2025

3 min read

Optical Technology Award Winners – OLED Displays and Warm Labels

The International Optical Technologies Association recently announced the winners of its inaugural Excellence in Optical Technologies Awards, during a ceremony at the Optical & Digital Document Security™ conference in Warsaw, Poland.

Advanced Materials Overt Security

Chander S Jeena

29 June 2025

1 min read

TOPPAN Launches Illumigram in Colour

TOPPAN Digital has expanded its Illumigram™ offering with a new colour version. Originally available only in white, the enhanced hologram now delivers multi-colour 3D text and images that appear when illuminated by strong light – such as a smartphone torch.

Overt Security

Nicola Sudan

8 Nov. 2022

4 min read

Authenticating in 3D Polarisation

A team of scientists, from Heriot-Watt University and the University of Hong Kong have developed an optical metasurface to create colour-selective 3D polarisation structures.

Overt Security

Alan Hodgson

5 Oct. 2022

4 min read

Emerging Technologies – Smartphone Authentication

The ability to link a physical object such as a label, stamp or direct mark into the digital space through devices such as a smartphone is a persuasive and growing field.

Overt Security

Nicola Sudan

5 July 2022

3 min read

Micro-Optic Labels Takes Centre Stage in HP’s Anti-Counterfeit Programme

Those of us who still believe overt security features validated with the naked eye should be the first ‘port of call’ for checking the authenticity of something, will be heartened by the HP Anti-Counterfeiting and Fraud programme.

Overt Security

Francis Tuffy

1 March 2022

2 min read

KURZ Moves on With KINEGRAM DYNAMIC®

Foil and thin film technology company KURZ has been a pioneer in the use of diffractive optical anti-counterfeit features on banknotes since its earliest developments. Now, KURZ has made another step forward, with OVD Kinegram (OVDK), a member of the KURZ Group since 1999, in introducing its latest optical technology, KINEGRAM DYNAMIC®.

Overt Security

Francis Tuffy

1 March 2022

2 min read

Breaking the Security Mould with MicroEdge

Nanopixel, a subsidiary of the light science technologies group Lumenco, has announced the creation of MicroEdge™, a patented optical security feature that can be moulded directly into the surface of plastic products or packaging.

Overt Security

Get the TSAN Weekly News delivered free to your inbox.

Latest News

Security Begins Below the Surface – and Extends Far Beyond

Seaborough’s LUMICRYPT Engineers Unique Luminescent Fingerprints

80% Digital + 20% Analogue = 100% Novel for H010

Optical Technology Award Winners – OLED Displays and Warm Labels

TOPPAN Launches Illumigram in Colour

Authenticating in 3D Polarisation

Emerging Technologies – Smartphone Authentication

Micro-Optic Labels Takes Centre Stage in HP’s Anti-Counterfeit Programme

KURZ Moves on With KINEGRAM DYNAMIC®

Breaking the Security Mould with MicroEdge

Sign Up to Tax Stamp & Authentication News™ Weekly

You're signed up!